High Beams on without momentarily blankin

OK.

Lot's of GREAT information here! 

Here's my problem.  I am installing HID lighting in my Jeep and have already upgraded my H4 wiring harness to grab power directly from the battery.  It has separate relays and fuses and is working great.  The HID lamps are ONLY low beam.  Ideally, I would like to use my existing PIAA driving lights AS my HIGH beams.  I can easily tap into the H4 High beam wire and that will work just fine.  My problem is that when I "Flash To Pass OR put the high beams on, the Low beams go off for a split second and then come back on.  This is not an issue with standard OEM bulbs, but with HID's, the ballast can suffer with the "off/on" voltage spike.  The low beams ALREADY stay on WITH the high beams which is exactly what I want.  I need to figure out an "easy" way to keep the power consistent without switching from low to HIGH.  Any ideas and diagrams would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!  Even if I don't end up rigging my PIAA's as my high beams - if I forget and flash high beams that are non-existent ... the voltage will still drop out and come back.

Thanks in advance, and I hope this is simple with a diode or relay ...

Im not sure how your HID ballasts are wired as I have not installed  a set of these but try this.  Take your trigger wire and source voltage to it (12volts) the lights should come on then turn it off.  the lights turn off and then back on but for how long?  If they turn back on but for only a short time it sounds like it may be an inductor or transformer component in the ballast causing this.  When an inductor is energized it oposes any change in current,(current lags the voltage),  so when the lights are switched off the voltage spikes to try to maintain the current stored in the magnetic field.  This collapsing of the field takes a short time which is why the lights will come back on even though the trigger wire is switched off.  I think this is what is happening but only if the lights do eventually turn off after a period of time.  Installing a transient voltage recovery capacitor or  more likely a freewheeling diode should solve this problem.  The diode acts as a temporary load for the collapsing current and rising voltage so your ballast won't see the spike.  Hope this helps or at least explains what could possibly be happening.

bwharvey

My original thoughts on this disregard them as I didn't realize the lights do come back on and stay on. I think your right the switch function itself is causing your problem. I know how to fix this but my method requires the use of a 12 volt off-delay timing relay.  You might have to go to an electronics store, as an install shop would probably not be able to get this from their suppliers.  The wiring of this off-delay timing relay works like this.  You would run a wire fused from the battery to one side of the N/O contact on this relay.  The other side of the N/O contact on the relay would go to the HID trigger wire ( no longer go to the low beam).  The coil of the Off-delay timer would connect to the low beam trigger wire.  The other side of the coil on the off-delay timer relay would go to ground.  How it works is like this.  The low beams turn on and the HID's come on.  When you switch to high beam the high beams come on but the low beams will stay on with no flash because if you set the timer ( probably a pot on the relay) to just longer than the flash time say 1 second the timer will not time out because power is regained again before it can operate.  An off-delay timer works like this.  When it is energized the N/O contact closes right away.  When the relay is de-energized after a set time the contact opens. So if you set the time on the relay a little longer than the flash time then the HID's will stay latched in while switching to high beam.  When the low beams are turned off the timer will time out after say 1 second and the HID's will turn off.  I can't think of any other way to solve this problem.  The hardest part will be locating the off-delay timer relay.

Regards Brock

So, I'm not making ANY changes to the High Beam leg at all, right?

No don't make any changes to the high beam leg but if you add a set of lights off the high beam trigger it won't affect the low beam.  Ask the electronics parts store guys for a 12 volt off-delay timing relay with contacts rated for 1 or 2 amps.  The current rating of the contacts can be low since the HID's trigger wire won't draw much current, this will also keep the cost down.  They may have to special order this part as I don't think it is that common in 12 volt applications.  Any questions on the wiring once you get the relay e-mail me at bkharvey@telus.net

Brock

Great!

 I will make a couple of calls on Monday.  Any idea what the relay "should" cost me?  I completed the HID install today, and "tried" the flash to pass to confirm that the HID's would remain on and they did NOT.  I'm afraid to try it again since I don't want to damage the ballasts.  Although my initial goal was to maintain use of the existing stalk/steering column switch - now I'm concerned.  When I used my little 12V test light on the low beam side WHILE activating the High Beams - I noticed the flicker - but the test light was still ON.  Unfortunately, because the install was sooooooooo tight - it would be tough to even get back to the H4 plug at this point.  :(  Any additional thoughts?

Brock,

Would a do-it-yourself kit like this work?  It appears to be fixed @ 50 seconds ...

Thanks!

https://mmm1107.verio-web.com/grayma/catalog/148.htm

Sorry I didn't read your last reply before replying myself.  The 50 second fixed time won't work.  Try to get one that times down to at least one second or even less if possible, it should be adjustable.  This problem of "flicker " also exsists on 2003 Chevy diesel HD trucks with remote start and glow plug delay.  The glow plug output wire goes from positive to negative and when using the new Black Widow remote starters, they automatically sense positive or negative glow plug signals.  The problem is the output has a fast pulse from positive to negative before it actualy goes negative and the glow plug indicating light on the dash goes out which causes the vehicle to start before the glow plug light goes out.  The off-delay timing relay will cure this.  I have a truck with this problem and when I fix it I'll let you know how it went.  I have to get a relay so when I get it I'll give you the info on it.  Might not be for a while though.